


The Trial

by Ferith12



Series: Love, Joy, Hope [3]
Category: DCU
Genre: Court of Owls, Dick Grayson is a Talon, Dick has Emotions, Gen, talon au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-29 08:53:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6368176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ferith12/pseuds/Ferith12
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Acrobat returns to the Court to face the consequences of his actions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Trial

The acrobat had known, when he had left that he was taking a risk, a huge risk. But it was no matter. It had worked. 

So he crawled into the underground passages like a bedraggled water rat, head hanging and shaking a bit, playing the act of a very confused and repentant talon, unused to emotion, whose first reaction when confronted with them was violence, and whose second was to run away as hard and fast as he could.

He knew this stunt would get him into leagues of trouble, but he didn’t care. And for once his not caring was kind of nice. It was selfless, rather than simply a loss of self. He went along, silent as ever, rather mindlessly gravitating towards the center of the place. He wasn’t sure where he was going or why, it didn’t matter. After a while they would find him and he would be summoned to answer to his crime. 

A talon appeared right on cue.

It was Cobb.

Why did it have to be Cobb?  It’s weird how this was the first time he felt apprehensive at seeing his ancestor. But he was glad in a way. Apprehension wasn’t exactly the nicest emotion, but it was at least something, something broken out from the dark that he’d been stuck in for so long.   “Cobb,” he said, not hiding the apprehension because he knew that the man loved it.   Cobb grinned, feral and cruel. 

“We’ve been looking for you, acrobat,” He said. 

The acrobat hid his flinch. No, Cobb had not died right in front of him. He was not bleeding out and he was not simultaneously sickly delighted and horrified at the delight. Cobb was right there, standing cruel and strong as ever and as ever oblivious to the acrobat’s… problems and the acrobat wanted to keep it that way. So he followed the man and ignored the corpse. 

It took a while get to the Court. And the Court must really like him, even more than he had thought, because most things would have been simply decided by Cobb, who was technically in charge of him. Unless… did they suspect?

They reached the Court. Only a few owls were there, and they did not summon others. So it wasn’t a great court decision, his punishment, just something for an owl to decide rather than a Talon. Right then. That was good. The probably didn’t suspect. No, the Owl in front was wearing a mask of a peacock instead of an owl. That definitely meant they knew everything. Everyone knew that peacocks were idiots so they knew everything.

The talon was terrified. He couldn’t ever remember being terrified. He was about to let the boy down, he was about to let his brother, Jason, down. That terrified him.

The Owl spoke up. “Where were you, Talon. You ran off against orders. Explain.”

The talon could not give away Jason’s position. He would not. Even now when it didn’t matter because all was known.

“Nowhere,” he said in a language that wasn’t English, but wasn’t his head language either, one he knew they would understand. He made his voice shaky, cowering before the one who knew all. 

The Owl glared at him, owl mask with its glaring gold eyes seeming to pierce through his soul.

Wait. Why was it an owl mask now. Wasn’t it peacock before? It must have been a hallucination. Wait a minute. What did the Owl uncharacteristically dawning a peacock mask have to do with his being found out. that reasoning made no sense. Ugh, his stupid brain was so annoying! He had to get a grip on himself, play the role, don’t let the talons know how messed up he was, how far from their perfect little talon he really was. It went beyond his own need to be praised. He had a brother now, one he desperately needed to protect.

“I don’t know,” he said in a whimper, once any real desire to whimper had left him.

“I ran, I HATE HIM.” he spat the last out in a fury, a fury that was completely a lie but held within it all the passion that was his love for his brother.

The Owls looked amongst each other. It was a look that said that they were at once shocked at his outburst but also completely unsurprised.

The Owl that had been questioning him’s voice turned stern. “Did you kill the young talon?”  There must have been some programing in him from all the torturous first year that made lying to the court “impossible” for him, because saying “Yes” was ridiculously hard. But he did say it, he said it deadly, as if that fact was completely unimportant. Something that happened as it should have.

“You understand you must be punished for this, and for running away?” 

“Yes.”

That one was easy. It was a matter of course. He really did not care about it much. When it was happening he would probably scream with pain and perhaps even almost regret his decision to save Jason. No. He would never regret that. but he would not be happy about the situation. 

However, in this moment, that did not matter in the least. Any punishment was completely inconsequential. 

The Owl nodded. Seeming satisfied that all was as he expected.

I suggest, said another owl, “That the talon be put under surveillance. This jealousy he has expressed, while regrettable, is harmless. However we believed to have annihilated all feeling from him. Should others develop it could be disastrous. He is the best talon we have had in all our history. It would be quite a shame to lose him for the sake of some street rat.

The other Owls nodded in agreement.

The acrobat stared blankly ahead. He had not expected this, but he should have. It was obvious. But it was alright. He was fine with what would happen. He would have to be extra careful, but it would not be too hard.

Cobb had his hungry smile on now. Now came the torture, the thing Cobb loved best.

Cobb took his arm and dragged him away from the court to the small torture chamber. The acrobat looked around in apprehension. This would not be enjoyable, but it would be necessary. He could handle it. Cobb threw him into the torture chair with much more force than was needed.

“Let’s begin with dismembering you, little acrobat,” he said.


End file.
